


Countdown: Coda

by ninjamonkey73



Category: Castle (TV 2009)
Genre: Episode Related, Episode: s03e23 Countdown, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:40:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22352740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninjamonkey73/pseuds/ninjamonkey73
Summary: Kate has a change of heart after Rick walks away
Relationships: Kate Beckett/Richard Castle
Kudos: 14





	Countdown: Coda

Kate looked back at the elevator, twisting slightly in Josh’s arms before pulling away completely.

“I can’t… This is never going to work, you know. You’ll always want to be leaving for somewhere and I’ll always want you to stay. That’s not fair to either of us.”

Josh’s eyes flicked to the elevator and darkened. “You’re dumping me?”

Kate took a deep breath and a look of realization flashed across her face. She hadn’t exactly thought it through, but yes, she was. “I’m sorry, Josh. You deserve a woman who can let you go save the world. I have to go.”

With a distracted wave toward the break room, she swept up her coat and purse, moving quickly to the elevator. She’d speed dialed Castle before the elevator arrived.

“Beckett?” he answered with a note of concern.

“Rick, wait. I’m on my way down. Have you left?” The little voice in Kate’s head was practically screaming _What are you doing?!_ , but she tried to block it out. It was time they stopped dancing around each other. Two near-deaths in 10 hours could really put things in perspective for a person.

“Is something wrong?” The concern in his voice made her smile.

“I… I just broke up with Josh and ran off after you,” she said with a humorless laugh and more than a hint of awe. “Did you already catch your cab?”

He was silent a few beats before answering, “I’m still out front.” He continued slowly, picking his words carefully. “What happened to your second chance? You seemed really upbeat about things between you two earlier.”

The floors passed slowly as the elevator descended, her impatience magnified by her need to see him and make things right. This part of the conversation was easier to have when she couldn’t see him, anyway, so she barreled on, “Josh will always want to be leaving for somewhere and I’ll always want him to stay.” _And I’m in love with someone else_ , she thought, not ready to say it out loud just yet. “What were you about to say? When Josh showed up.”

The elevator doors parted and she could see him, standing on the curb looking back at her through the doors of the precinct. His lips were moving before his reply reached her phone. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me. It felt like last summer all over again, with our roles reversed.” She pushed through the glass door into the cold, fighting back a shiver.

Rick lowered his phone, disconnecting them as she approached. His brow furrowed a moment, before his eyes lit with recognition. “You were going to tell me something the day I left, and then Gina showed up and you deflected. Just like I just did.”

“So, what were you about to say?” She smiled slowly at him, hoping to diffuse some of the tension crackling between them.

His eyes crinkled with his return grin. “I was going to ask if you’d like to go to dinner with me to celebrate our mutual hero-ness. And having cheated death, not once, but twice today. Those sorts of things need commemoration.”

Kate smiled shyly and looked down at her hands a moment, hoping he couldn’t see the color rising in her cheeks. “Make it takeout at your place and I’m in.”

“Pad Thai and Nime Chow sound good?” he offered, tentative.

“Perfect. I’ll drive,” Kate agreed, linking arms with him and steering him toward her parked car. She leaned into him slightly, already feeling lighter than she had a few moments earlier. Maybe letting their relationship change wasn’t such a bad thing, after all.

Rick was oddly silent the entire car ride. In her peripheral vision, she could see him staring at her as they made their way through the city traffic to his building. After glancing over at him a few times to find him suddenly studying something out his window, she finally asked, softly, “What?” When he turned toward her, she glanced from the road a moment to meet his gaze.

His smile was almost reverent. “I’m afraid I’ll say something wrong and ruin… whatever THIS is.”

The laugh bubbled up and out of her before she could stop it. “It’s never stopped you before. And THIS,” she continued, gesturing back and forth between them, color once again rising to her cheeks. “Is a date. You know, that thing two single people do when they enjoy each other’s company?”

A wide grin spread across his face. “You enjoy my company, Detective? I’m speechless.”

“Yeah, I really doubt that will last long.” She pushed at his shoulder playfully and dropped her hand into his for a quick squeeze. The rest of the ride passed in comfortable silence, her hand resting in his between them until she pulled it back to turn into his parking garage.

When she cut the engine, he sat up straighter suddenly. “Wait there.” Rick fumbled with the door, jumped out of the passenger seat, and scurried around the back of the car to pull her door open with a grand flourish. “M’lady.”

Kate rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help smiling up at him with a curtsy. “M’lord.”

The trip to his apartment was taken arm in arm, and they giggled and jostled shoulders the whole way. He unlocked the door and gestured her in, sobering a bit as he took her coat and shrugged out of his. After hanging the coats, he stared at her a long moment, an out of place look of indecision on his normally confident face. At her questioning look, he pulled in a deep breath and huffed it out, an embarrassed, lopsided smile creasing his eyes. “I’m just weighing the pros and cons of grabbing you and kissing you right now. You can kill me 26 different ways, after all.”

“It’s decided then,” she said, her voice low and sultry. Kate closed the space between them, resting her hands lightly on his chest. “Dinner later.”

He smiled. “Much, much later.” His fingers brushed her jaw before twining through the hair on her neck. His other arm slipped around her back and he pulled her to him with a quick jerk, pulling her briefly off balance, her arms pinned between them.

“Rick.”

He leaned down, his lips ghosting against hers, then gone. “You are so beautiful, Kate.”

“Rick?” The corners of her mouth twitched up into a sexy, come hither grin. When he hummed in reply, she pulled her arms free and took his head in both of her hands. “Talk later. Kiss now.”


End file.
